Beauty Rules I Should Stick To...

...but nine times out of ten, I so don't!

We've all got them. The things we're told again and again we should be doing, have read up on and know the benefits of, but fail to put into practice. I like a good ole confession (I was raised Catholic, what can I say) so today I am 'fessing up to my makeup sins.

1. Buy the smaller size first, and try before you buy. It sounds so, so embarrassingly obvious but it's a mistake I've made more times than I like to admit. I work out how much the smaller size of a product is value-wise, then look at its larger sibling and invariably it's the larger one that goes into my bag as I convince myself it's a bargain. This is all despite the fact that I know myself, and am perfectly aware that I am very, very likely to go off a product if it's not 100% what I hoped for. I have also made the mistake of buying two shades of a new beauty item only to get both and realise I hate the formula (Hourglass need to send me a personalised, ideally handwritten apology for their Opaque Rouges, of which I have for some reason got two.) Not. Good. 
2. Google thoroughly before purchasing/don't listen to the hype. How many times have a bought a product based off one blogger's recommendations and ended up crushingly disappointed, as well as out of pocket? Even with products that seem okay after a swatch in-store, it's always worth checking out their online reputation on places like Makeup Alley as you can always be left surprised... I would never have bought MAC's Club Eyeshadow had I read its Makeup Alley status first!
3. Go in with a little product, then build up if needed. When you think about it, the logic to this one couldn't be more sound: squirting out masses of your expensive foundation leads to waste and over-application; just because you're used to two pumps of your serum doesn't mean that right here, today, two pumps is what your skin needs. But more often than not I get a little squirt happy and end up wiping most of what I've got on my hand away. It's far better to work up. I wish my hands would remember this...
4. Be. GENTLE. Some makeup artists like to go in heavy-handed. I couldn't hate this idea any more if I tried. No one's face benefits from being tugged and pulled and even contorted for the application of makeup and I would encourage anyone reading to make a conscious effort to halve the amount of pressure they apply when doing their makeup. Your skin will thank you. I just need to keep remembering  - my eyes are hooded enough as it is!
5. Be hygienic with your makeup. Cleaning up palettes, washing my brushes, keeping things out of direct sunlight and actually paying attention to use by dates are all things that get chalked to the bottom of my to-do list, but I know they are worth doing. 

So that's me done - over to you guys: what are those good habit's that just won't stick? I'll be waiting, very, very much interested in what you have to admit to...